Procurement Notices

Post Title:

human resources and gender international consultant

Agency/Project Name:

United Nations Capital Development Fund

Duty Station:

Home based with travel to Yangon, Myanmar

Type of Contract:

Individual Contract

Post Level:

International Consultant

Languages Required:

English

Duration of Initial Contract

47 working days 

Starting Date

26 August 2019

TERMS OF REFERENCE

A.   General Background

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) was founded as an independent organization within the UN system in 1966, with a mission “to assist developing countries in the development of their economies by supplementing existing sources of capital assistance by means of grants and loans”. Its creation was part of a larger effort to complement technical assistance and pre-investment activities of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), as well as those of larger partners such as the World Bank. In 1973 UNCDF’s mandate was narrowed to focus “first and foremost” on the least developed countries (LDCs). UNCDF today remains a capital investment organization for the LDCs.

UNCDF provides investment capital and technical support to both the public and the private sector. It provides capital financing - in the forms of grants, soft loans and credit enhancement - and the technical expertise to unleash sustainable financing at the local level.

UNCDF’s work on inclusive finance seeks to develop inclusive financial systems and ensure that a range of financial products are available to all segments of society, including low income men and women, at a reasonable cost, and on a sustainable basis. UNCDF supports a wide range of providers (e.g. microfinance institutions, banks, cooperatives, money transfer companies) and a variety of financial products and services (e.g. savings, credit, insurance, payments, and remittances). UNCDF also supports newer delivery channels (e.g. mobile phone networks) that offer tremendous potential for scale.

In Myanmar, women and girls face barriers in the enabling environment, in the supply of and in their demand for financial products and services, as well as in their socio-cultural contexts. As a result, women remain disproportionately excluded from the formal financial system in the country and further exacerbated for those living in conflict-affected areas. Women appear to be more prone than men to use informal financial products and services.  Together, these diverse spheres of constraint limit women and girls’ access, usage and agency over financial products and services in ways that constrain their opportunities for economic participation and empowerment. Yet while, women’s economic participation has the potential to contribute to Myanmar’s sustainable economic growth, currently women’s labour force participation rate is only 50.5%, falling well short of the male participation rate of 85.2% - despite women and adolescent girls constituting more than half of the country’s working age population (aged 15-64) (52.3%).

Financial inclusion is a key enabler of women’s economic empowerment. As such, it is critical to overcome women and girls’ supply, demand, enabling environment and cross cutting socio-cultural financial inclusion constraints by adopting a multi-stakeholder approach.

Acknowledging the pivotal role that financial inclusion plays in reaching the economic empowerment of women and girls, UNCDF is developing and implementing multi-sectorial activities to facilitate women and girls’ economic empowerment through improving their access, use and control over financial services, in cooperation with UN Agencies (such us UNDP), Financial Service Providers and international donors.

B.   Objective of assignment

UNCDF has received support through DFAT’s Gender Equality Fund to address gender-related challenges and opportunities faced by financial services providers (FSPs) in Myanmar. UNCDF has worked with 10 FSPs to complete a self-assessment process, identify priority areas and actions to improve women’s access to financial services, and women’s participation and leadership in the workforce.

To this extent, UNCDF developed a comprehensive institutional gender self-assessment tool (GSAT) to support financial services providers to review their existing approach and policies. The objective of the tool is to support a self-assessment of each FSPs’ existing institutional management systems approach to promote gender equality, women participation and leadership in the workforce, and targeting women as a client segment.

Based on the findings of the assessment, conducted in the 2nd and 3rd Quarters of 2018, UNCDF identified the need to support the selected institutions:

• Through a revision of their existent policies or the drafting of new policies on human resources, non-discrimination and equal opportunities;
• With a comprehensive training on gender leadership, gender-sensitive capacity development and other topics related to gender-sensitive professional advancement to expose the FSPs staff to international best practices and demonstrate the business case for enhancing women’s participation and career advancement in the workforce of financial institutions.

The selected institutions will be invited to a workshop to showcase international best practice in the field of gender sensitive human resources and non-discrimination policies as well as to demonstrate the business case for enhancing equal opportunities for recruitment and career advancements.

The International Consultant will:

• Conduct an evaluation of existent human resources policies (including policies and practices regarding appointments and assignments, staff welfare, workshop, accommodation, security, etc.) related to gender and diversity to identify good practices, gaps and inconsistencies.
• Address gender issues within the working environment and support gender sensitive human resources policies.
• Support the institutions (where applicable) in the design and implementation of gender sensitive human resources policies and host a training on the new policies and compliance standards in each institution.
• Design, organize and facilitate one training on gender awareness, women’s leadership and career advancement for each of the partners FSPs.

C.   Scope of Work

1. Provision of technical assistance to Myanmar FSPs for the design and/or implementation of gender sensitive human resources policies:

• Evaluate existent institutional human resources policies (including policies and practices regarding appointments and assignments, staff welfare, workshop, accommodation, security, etc.) related to gender and diversity to identify good practices, gaps and inconsistencies.
• Support Myanmar institutions in the design of human resources policies taking into account gender diversity, non-discrimination and equal opportunities.
• Host a training on the new policies and compliance standards in each institution.
• Hold meetings with the staff of Myanmar FSPs.
• Draft detailed reports of the meetings and updates on the design/revision of the policies. 

2. Design a training on gender awareness, women’s leadership and career advancement for each of the partners FSPs:

• Consultations with project staff and revision of relevant project documents to understand context and scope of the training.
• Determine pre-training participants’ need.
• Design the content of the training.
• Discuss and finalize the training programme with the Gender Consultant for Financial Inclusion - ASEAN and SAARC and the SHIFT Programme Manager a.i. – ASEAN & SAARC.

3. Organization and facilitation of the trainings on HR/Institutional Policies and gender awareness and women’s leadership:

• Provide logistic support for the organization of the event (identify date and venue, organize the room set-up etc.);
• Draft the training agenda, invitation letters and identify potential speakers;
• Send invitation and keep a list of the attendees;
• Prepare other event materials (background note, presentations, evaluation forms, pre-training survey etc.);
• Facilitate the training.

4. Draft training reports and a follow up plans for each of the FSPs:

• Draft a detailed training report to be shared internally and with the participants.
• Adapt the training content to the feedback from the participants and design a training-model that can be used by others for a Training of Trainers (TOT) approach.
• Assist the participants to formulate a training follow-up action plan.
• Upon completion of trainings, evaluate the effectiveness of the trainings and make recommendations for improvement and follow up actions.
• Individual follow up with financial service providers as needed.

D.   Expected Outputs and Deliverables

E.   Institutional Arrangement

The Consultant will work under the overall guidance of SHIFT Programme Manager a.i. – ASEAN & SAARC. The Gender Consultant for Financial Inclusion - ASEAN and SAARC will provide support and technical guidance. Regarding all operational matters, the consultant will work with and report to the SHIFT Programme Manager a.i. – ASEAN & SAARC. The SHIFT Programme Manager a.i. – ASEAN & SAARC will approve the consultant’s payment on the basis of the deliverables listed in these TORs.

F.   Duration of the Work

From 26 August 2019 for 47 days of work. The SHIFT Programme Manager a.i. – ASEAN & SAARC will review the outputs, give comments and certify approval of the consultant’s work in 2 weeks’ time from the delivery of work.

Consultancy fees for the service described in the scope of work will be paid as follows:

• Upon submission of a report on findings of the analysis of FSPs’ institutional human resources and non-discrimination policies and practices by 1 October 2019.
• Upon design and facilitation of two trainings for each of the partner: one on gender sensitive human resources and institutional policies; another on gender awareness, women’s leadership and career advancement. Both the trainings will be organized in Yangon by 1 November 2019.
• Upon submission of the final report with recommendations and institutional follow-up action plans for each partner FSPs by 15 November 2019.

G.           Duty Station

Home-based, with travel to Myanmar.

The schedule of travel will be negotiated with the consultant according to the requirements of the programme. A separate TOR with clear deliverables, budget and timelines will be prepared and agreed prior to each mission within the terms of this TOR. The consultant might be requested to travel to UNCDF Regional Office or other destinations.

H. Qualifications of the Successful Candidate

Education

• Master’s degree in Gender studies, Development Studies, Public Administration, Human Resources, or other related disciplines.

Experience

• Minimum 7 years of experience in gender in international development, institutional gender policies, policy analysis and design, human resources;
• Experience in addressing gender issues within the working environment and support gender sensitive human resources policies for government and private sector.
• Experience providing institutional assistance in gender and human resources, including the design and facilitation of workshops and trainings;
• Experience in gender and leadership training, including training design and ability to lead dynamic trainings sessions;
• Previous work experience and knowledge of Myanmar context.

Corporate Competences

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards and acts in accordance with the Standards of Conduct for international civil servants;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNCDF;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competences:

• Knowledge about the UNCDF programmes would be an advantage;
• Strong oral and written communication skills;
• Ability to network with partners on various levels;
• Ability to develop creative solutions through participatory methods with various stakeholders.

Language

• Fluency in English.
• Knowledge of Myanmar preferred

Evaluation of the Candidates

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis:

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant up on Cumulative Analysis/evaluation and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant to the requirements of the TOR;
• Offers the best value for money.

The above shall be determined by determining the offeror who will receive the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% mark in technical evaluation will be considered eligible for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks):

• Level and relevance of Education obtained; (5 marks)
• Minimum 7 years of experience in women’s empowerment, human resources, institutional gender policies, policy analysis and design (15 points)
• Experience in addressing gender issues within the working environment and support gender sensitive human resources policies (15 points)
• Experience providing institutional assistance in gender and human resources, including the design of workshops and trainings (15 points)
• Experience in gender and leadership trainings, including training design and ability to lead dynamic trainings sessions (15 points)
• Previous work experience and knowledge of Myanmar context (5 points)

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks):

All technical qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals received points according to the following formula: p = y (µ/z), where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Proposers who shall not submit below mentioned documents will not be considered for further evaluation.

• When applying for this consultancy position, please apply with your official name as shown in the government issued identification document (e.g. passport and/or driver license). Contract award is subject to this verification;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; link to P11: http://sas.undp.org/documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc;
• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
• Three professional references including name, affiliation and email addresses.
• Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org

Women candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. UNCDF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Please include all documents into one file while submitting your application.